Rick Waren - Radical Hope—Part One

Hello, and welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. This is

the Bible teaching ministry of Rick Warren. Hey, We're so

glad you've joined us. Today we're continuing a powerful series

called radicalis Developing Spiritual Roots. And in this series, Rick

will show you how to grow deep in your faith,

stay grounded in God's word, and become everything He created

you to be. Okay, And now here's part one of

a message called Radical Hope.

At the end of World War Two, there was a

United States sub coming back from the war and it

was coming into harbor to dock at Newport News, Virginia.

Something went terribly wrong with the submarine and it sunk

to the bottom of the ocean in the harbor. Hadn't

been touched at all during the war, but it sunk

in the harbor. The coast Guard dispatched divers to go

down and do survey the hall to see if it

had been compromised or what had happened. And the divers

hed a sailor tapping on the wall from the inside

of the sub The words in morse code is their hope.

That's a very important question in life, is their hope?

Because we live in a broken world. Things don't go right,

and so hope is essential. Thousands of people are probably

asking this question today. They may be sitting in front

of a pile of bills saying is their hope? They

may be standing at the side of a fresh grave

saying is their hope? They may be sitting in a

doctor's office, reviewing tests and saying is their hope. They

may be waiting for a job offer after having been

laid off. Is their hope? They may be wondering, am

I ember ever going to get married? I Am I

ever going to have a child? Am I ever going

to have a family? Or whatever question. But this question

of hope is an essential question of life now. Because

human beings are hungry for hope. We go after all

kinds of quack ideas, gimmicks, get rich quick schemes, fads,

and grasping for straws. When you think you're dying, and

you'll try anything to stay alive, when you think you're

going under financially, you'll try anything to stay afloat. And

we often are gullible and we get scammed by false hopes. Now,

all discouragement and all disappointment comes from putting our hope

in something we should not have put our hope in

from false hope. There's only one thing that can give

you eternal hope, lasting hope, permanent hope, and.

That is a relationship with Jesus Christ. This week.

I was on the internet earlier in the week and

I saw an advertisement that said eight ways to have

hope for the new Year. I thought, man, I'm speaking

on this this weekend, so I need to go check

this out. So I went to the website and it

was false hope. I had to look at it. But

here were some of the suggestions that were offered for

building your hope for the new year. Number one, have

a cup of tea.

A cup of tea.

Be kind to yourself now, Friends, a cup of tea

may relax you and may distress you. It's maybe great

for peace of mind, but it isn't going to give

you any hope. Here was the second suggestion, say this

affirmation every day in front of a mirror.

I am the key to peace. Friend.

If I'm the key to piece or you're the key

to piece, we're in real trouble. We're in real trouble.

We're up a creek without a paddle. Friend, I don't

have any hope if I am the key to piece

or you are here was the third one.

I'm not making these up.

Create a daily ritual where you light a candle and

you meditate. Now, you don't have to believe this is

direct quote. You don't have to believe in any particular

deity to make this work. Just silently reflect on the

lit candle and feel the hope again. That might put

you in a tranquil mind. I'm not knocking it as

a stress reliever. Looking at a candle might be, you know,

something to really, you know, wind you down, but it

ain't going to give you any hope because it can't

change your circumstance. As I said, all discouragement and all

disappointment comes from putting our hope in something that God

never intended us to hope in. When you hope in money,

you're going to be disappointed. When you hope put your

hope in the economy or your investments, You're going to

be disappointed. When you put your hope in the government.

You're going to be severely disappointed. When you put your

hope in in other people, or even in yourself, you're

going to let yourself down. Because you're not perfect, and

there is no person who could possibly meet all.

The needs in your life.

There's only one reliable source that will never let you down.

Isaiah forty thirty one. There on your outline, it says this,

those who hope in the Lord, in the Lord will

renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles.

They will run and not grow weary, they will walk

and not be faint. And that is my goal for

you as we face a brand new year, that you

will run and not be weary, that you will walk

and not faint, that you will have the spiritual strength

and spiritual energy you need.

So, as we continue in.

This series on radicalis deepening spiritual roots, the radical roots

of our faith, I want us to look today at

the topic of radical hope. Now to understand hope, you

have to understand what hope is not. Hope is not

wishful thinking, Hope is not daydreaming. Hope is not positive thinking.

Hope is not optimism. Now I'm not knocking those things.

I mean positive thinking is better than negative thinking, and

optimism is certainly better than pessimism and despair. But those

things can't change your environment. They can change you They

can change your attitude, but they're not gonna change your circumstances.

They're not gonna change your problems. You need something much

much stronger than simply positive thinking and optimism. What you

need is genuine hope. Now, what's the difference between optimism

and hope. Optimism is psychological. It's based on the way

you think. Hope is theological. It's based on some facts

of reality about God and about his relationship to you.

Big difference.

Optimism is positive thinking. Hope is passionate trusting. It's about trust.

It's about trusting someone who can make a difference.

That's God.

Optimism says it's not so bad. Optimism can actually be

a denial of reality. Optimism can be playing Pollyanna, where

you look at the world with rose colored glasses you

it's not so bad when it really is bad. Optimism

can often put yourself in a phony world where you're

wearing rose colored glasses. The sun will come out tomorrow

if it's to be, it's up to me, and you

got all these little slogans, and you're trying to psych

yourself into believing something you know really isn't true. Optimism

often says it's not so bad. Hope says it's bad.

Hope never denies reality. Hope says it's bad. It's really bad.

It's really really bad. But I still believe in a

God and trust in a Savior who is greater than

how bad this situation is. It's not faking it, it's

not pretending, it's not psyching yourself up. It is having

hope in the reality of what God has promised in

his word. Now, if you want to study hope, you

have to go to the book of First Peter. First

Peter is called the Letter of Hope. It's a small

book at the end of the New Testament, written by Peter.

It's over in five chapters long, and Peter wrote it

to Christians who were suffering persecution in the Roman Empire

at the time. Wrote it, Nero was the Caesar of Rome.

And you know what Nero was doing. He was feeding

Christians to the lions in the Colisseum. He was nailing

them to crosses up and down the Appian Way, tarring

them and then lighting them on fire as torches. And

to be a Christian in those days meant death. You

follow Jesus, you die. It was that simple, and Christians

were hounded and hunted and persecuted. And Peter writes a

letter to people who are suffering. If you're ever going

through suffering, you need to read the book of First

Peter over.

And over and over.

And in the first seven verses of the first chapter

of Peter. Of First Peter, we have the five roots

of radical hope, the five reasons why we can hope

when other people feel hopeless.

As we look at a new year.

Number one, God chose me before I chose him. That's

the first thing that gives me hope, that God chose

me long before I chose him. Now, Peter starts this

in his first chapter, and in the second verse he says,

you were chosen according to the purpose of God the Father,

and were made a holy people by His Spirit. The

rest of that verse says you were bought by the

blood of Jesus to obey him. And we see the

trinity all in that one verse, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Now what this verse says is, first of all, your

salvation was no accident. Long before you chose God, He

chose you. It was his idea. Before God even created

the universe, he decided he wanted to create you. He

made you to love you, and he thought of you

long before he did anything else. Your salvation was not

an accident. The whole thing was his idea and God

wants you and his family. You were chosen noticed according

to the purpose of God. God has a purpose for

your life. And what is that purpose? He says, he

wanted to make a holy people. God's purpose in creating

you and putting you on earth is to make you

holy for heaven, to get you ready for heaven. Before

you can get into heaven, you have to be transformed.

God has to do something in your heart so you're

transformed and ready for Heaven. Now, understanding this simple truth,

God chose me before I chose him gives you great confidence,

great hope because you know that you were chosen by God.

We all know how great it is to feel chosen

when you're chosen for a team. Remember in grade school,

you hated to be the last person chosen for the team.

You wanted to be the first person chosen for the team.

You loved it when somebody popular or athletic chose you

to be on their team. It built your confidence, It

built your self esteem. We love to be chosen for

a team. We loved to be chosen to receive recognition.

We love to be chosen to be singled out, We

love to be chosen to be proposed to. When Ky

said yes to me, my self esteem went up enormous

amount because I thought I must.

Not be that bad. She said yes, She said yes.

Now, the highest honor you will ever receive is this,

God has chosen you to spend eternity with him.

Big deal. That's a big deal.

God has chosen you to spend eternity with him, and

he chose you before you chose him.

Number two.

Second reason we have hope is God always treats me

with mercy. God always treats me with mercy. Now, remember

Peter is writing this to people who are already believers

therein the family of God. He's writing it to Christians,

and he says, this all honor to the God and

Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ. For it is by

his boundless mercy circle the word mercy. It is by

his boundless mercy that God has given us the privilege

of being born again. Friends, the more you understand grace,

the more you're going to be amazed by it, because

it's completely undeserved. It's totally unmerited. It is not something

you can earn or deserve or work for. It's just

a free gift of God's mercy. God's love for you

and your salvation is not based on your performance. It's

not based on what you do. You can't make God

love you anymore than he loves you right now, or

make him love you any less. His love is based

on his mercy for you. The Bible says this and

tied us three five. He saved us not only because

of righteous not because of the righteous things we had done,

but because of His mercy. Now, this is very important

to understand as a believer. When you blow it, God

doesn't get mad at you. God doesn't want to get

even with you. God doesn't start planning to mess up

your life. God always acts in mercy towards you. Always

acts in mercy towards you. Why because you are covered

in the blood and salvation of Jesus Christ when you've

accepted him, and so next year, no matter how much

you mess up, no matter how much you blow it,

God says.

I respond to you in mercy. That gives me hope.

It gives me hope that no matter how bad how

many mistakes I make, God is still going to be

merciful to me. And it is by that mercy I've

been spiritually born into his family. I've been reborn. Now,

you were born into the universal family human race when

you were physically born, and when you're spiritually reborn, you

invite Christ in your life. You get into God's family.

Now there are privileges. Notice the word privilege. He says

He's given us the privilege of being born again. There

are privileges that come from being in God's family. For instance,

one of the things is we get to call God father.

I get to call God Daddy father because I'm in

his family. And if you've accepted Christ, you're in his

family too. And we get each other as brothers and

sisters in the family of God and God's family. The

spiritual family is going to go on forever, and it

gives a spiritual support here and fellowship together in eternity.

But one of the great things is that because I'm

in God's family, I can ask for whatever I need,

and God says, I'm going to help you. Remember, as

a father takes care of his children, God says, I

take care of my family, and I told you two

weeks ago that over twenty times in the New Testament,

God says ask. God says asking, it shall be given.

Seek and you'll find. Knock them the door will be open.

Ask anything in my name, and I will do it.

He says, Ask that you may bear fruit, that the

Father may be glorified in the sun. Over and over again,

the Bible says, you have not because you.

Ask not.

He's waiting to meet your needs. You have not because

you ask not. This week I got a letter from

Larry D. Young, President and chief executive officer of Snapple.

And so Larry D Young, President, doctor Pepper Snapple wrote

me a letter because I wrote him a letter about

a month ago, and I told him, I said, Larry,

of course I didn't know him. I just wrote, dear

mister president, you've taken my favorite flavor off the market.

Okay.

Now I want to humbly suggest that this is a mistake.

And my favorite Snapple is diet plumbergranite, not pomegranate plummegranted,

it's plumb and pomegranate put together. And I think a

reason a lot of people never drank it is because

they thought it was pomegranate. But it actually it was

plumb and it tasted like plumb. So I wrote the

president of Snapple. I didn't know this guy. I wrote

him a letter and said, you know what, I think

you mismarketed it. Why don't you just call it plum crazy.

Then people would know that it's plumb flavor, not Plummegranted,

that sounds like some fruit you never heard of, So

call it plumb crazy and put it back on the market.

I get a letter this week, Dear doctor Warren. Isn't

that nice?

Dear doctor Warren, thank you for your interest and passion

for Snapple. With many flavors in the Snapple family, we're

not able to offer all of them.

In each region.

Unfortunately, diet Plummegranite is one of those that is no

longer available on the West Coast. However, please accept this

case of extremely limited edition private reserve plumb.

Crazy Snapple just for you.

I hope you and your closest friends will enjoy this

case of this private reserve with our car implements. Well

now we're talking, Okay, now Here right here on the

label it says you can't see this regal plumb Crazy

it's my name, plumb crazy. There you go, and right

here on the side of this Snapple.

It says, dear doctor Warren.

Being a great tasting, all natural beverage that brings a

little smile to people's day certainly can't compare to the

understanding you have brought to the lives of people every day. However,

I know you give some. I hope you give some

of the other flavors a try, because I think you'll

find another one that you enjoyed just as much as

you love plummegranite. Thank you for carrying enough to write

your friend Snapple, so I have a whole case of

this now, all right, you have not because you ask not?

All right now, Larry, if I'm so bold to calling Larry,

I mean, we're like this now, Okay, we're like this,

And I'm thinking if the president of Snapple, I'm sure

he's a great guy, but he's imperfect, just like you

and me can meet the needs of a lowly guy

who asked for some plumbgrante. How much more would a

heavenly father who loves you and send his son to

die for you take care of your needs if you

just simply asked you have not because you ask not. God,

your heavenly Father, wants to supply your needs. Why, because

he chose you before you chose him, and because God

always treats us with mercy. He's waiting and wanting to

meet your needs.

Such a great message by Rick today and every day.

I sure hope you were just as encouraged as I was.

And now here's Rick with an important message.

Jesus told his disciples that they should live their lives

according to five specific purposes. He said, you've got to

love God with all your heart. That's worship. And love

your neighbors yourself. That's ministry. That's called the Great Commandment.

And then Jesus said, go make disciples. That's evangelism. Baptize

them into the Family of God. That's fellowship, a sign

of fellowship. And then he said, teach them obey everything

I've taught you. That's discipleship. And we call that the

Great Commission. We believe it daily hope that a great

commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission will

produce a great Christian, a great church, a great company,

a great community. You know, I started daily hope so

I could spread the good news about Jesus, not just

across America, but all around the world. And we want

people to know that God's word is filled with hope

and truth and the power that we need to follow

him every day is available to every single one. You

know as well as I do, that the Word of

God changes lives. It's alive, it's active, and it breathes

new life and new love into all of our lives.

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